Bikes may have been ever more restricted with emissions for things like Euro 4, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t got ever more powerful and bigger capacity in the last twenty years.
Back in the day Ducati’s premiership sports bike of 1994 was a 916 that made a claimed 106bhp. Now their ‘entry level’ sports bike is 955cc(CORRECT) and makes a claimed 157bhp, and 144bhp at the rear wheel. That’s more than a Ducati 1098 made in 2007, for instance.
And we haven’t even got to the big boy 1285cc(CORRECT) 1299 Panigale. With Ducati’s 1299 Panigale being their top-flights sports bike(plus the S and 1199 R versions) we put them together at Donington Park to find out just how different they are to ride.
If the 1299 Panigale is a full-on training session in the gym where you feel like you’ve done six rounds in the boxing ring and need a lie down afterwards, the more sedate 959 Panigale is a gentle spa day with a bit of light cardio thrown in at the end in comparison. But it’s no entry-level motorcycle – it’s a hardcore Ducati superbike in the finest tradition.